The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a program, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a program which carry out utilization control of a content recorded in a recording medium such as, for example, a memory card.
Recently, various media such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a Blu-ray Disk (registered trademark) and a flash memory are utilized as information recording media. Particularly in recent years, a memory card in which a flash memory having a large storage capacity is incorporated is utilized extensively. A user can record a content such as music or a movie into such various information recording media and load the media into a reproduction apparatus or player to carry out reproduction of the content.
However, in regard to many contents such as music data and image data, a copyright, a distribution right and so forth are owned by content creators or content sellers. Accordingly, when a content is to be provided to a user, usually such control as to apply fixed utilization restrictions, that is, to grant a license to utilize a content only to a user who has a legal utilization right so that disorderly utilization such as copying without permission may not be carried out is applied.
For example, as a standard relating to utilization control of contents, the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) is known. The AACS standard defines utilization control configurations for a content recorded, for example, on a Blu-ray Disc (registered trademark). In particular, the AACS standard prescribes that an encrypted content is applied as a content to be recorded, for example, on a Blue-ray Disc (registered trademark) and prescribes an algorithm and so forth for making it possible to restrict a user who can acquire an encryption key of the content only to an authorized user. The process is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-98765.
As the utilization control configuration of a content, for example, a configuration which utilizes utilization controlling information (Usage Rule) corresponding to a content is available in addition to content encryption.
For example, when a content is provided to a user, information relating to a permissible utilization form of the content such as, for example, information regarding a utilization period of the content or utilization controlling information (Usage Rule) in which permission information of a copy process or the like is recorded is provided additionally.
When the content is to be utilized on a reproduction apparatus of the user, the utilization controlling information corresponding to the content is referred to such that utilization of the content is carried out within a range prescribed by the utilization controlling information (Usage Rule).
However, in recent years, a content acquisition process from a server and so forth has become popular, and the recording capacity of recording media utilized in the user apparatus has increased and the number of contents retained by the user apparatus has increased rapidly.
In the user apparatus which retains such a large number of contents, a large number of pairs of a content and utilization controlling information corresponding to the content are retained.
For example, in the utilization controlling information (Usage Rule), a utilization permission period of the content associated with the utilization controlling information, that is, validity period information, is recorded.
When the user wants to extend the utilization period of the content, a process for rewriting the validity period of the utilization controlling information (Usage Rule) corresponding to the content is required. This rewriting process cannot be executed arbitrarily by the user apparatus but is carried out by a content management server or the like.
In order to extend the validity period of a large number of contents, a process for rewriting a large number of pieces of the utilization controlling information (Usage Rule) one by one is required. This increases the communication process between the user apparatus and the server and increases the processing load to them.